Homilies 7.1–7.12

On the fourth day of our stay in Tyre, when Peter went out about dawn, not a few people from the neighbourhood and a great many from Tyre itself met him and cried out, saying, "May God have mercy on us through you; may he heal us through you." Peter stood on a high stone so that he could be seen by all, and, after greeting them in the manner of those who fear God, began as follows.

"God, who created heaven and the universe, does not lack an occasion for the salvation of those who wish to be saved. So let no one rashly accuse him of not loving mankind, even over things that seem bad. For the outcomes of what happens to human beings are unknown to them, and are suspected of turning out badly, but are known to God as sure to turn out well. For example, Simon, who is the left-hand power of God and has authority to do harm to those who do not know God, was able to afflict you with diseases. These, permitted by the good providence of God, compelled you to look about for the one who can heal, to find him, and, on the occasion of bodily healing, to accept what pleases God and be persuaded to think rightly, so that together with the bodies that will be saved you may have your souls saved as well.

"I learn, then, that he sacrificed oxen and feasted you in the middle of the marketplace, and that you, carried away with much wine, made friends with the ruler of the evil demons together with the demons themselves, and so most of you were seized by these sufferings, having drawn the sword of destruction on yourselves with your own hands, because of ignorance. For the demons would not have had power over you if you had not first shared a table with their ruler. For from the beginning a law was laid down by God, who created all things, for the two rulers, the one on the right and the one on the left, that neither of them should have power over anyone unless that person had first shared a table with the one who wishes to do him good or harm. So, just as by partaking of the sacrifices offered to demons you were enslaved to the leader of wickedness, so, if you stop this and take refuge with God through the good leader on the right, doing what he wills with honours that involve no sacrifice, know well that along with the healing of your bodies you will have your souls in health too. For he alone, who destroys through the left hand, can make alive through the right; likewise he can strike, and raise up the one who has fallen.

"That is why, having first been deceived by Simon, the forerunner, you died to God in your souls and were struck in your bodies. But you can in the same way, the second time, by repentance, as I said, accepting what pleases God, both restore your bodies to health and recover your souls. What pleases God is this: to pray to him; to ask of him, as the one who gives all things by a law of judgment; to abstain from the table of demons; not to taste dead flesh; not to touch blood; to wash oneself clean from every defilement; and, in a word, all the rest that the Jews who worship God have heard, you too must all hear, taking one mind in many bodies: whatever good things each one wishes for himself, let him plan the same for his neighbour. Each of you would understand what is good if he were to reason with himself in this way: you do not want to be murdered; do not murder another. You do not want your wife to be seduced into adultery by another; do not commit adultery with another's wife. You do not want anything of yours stolen; steal nothing from another. And so, understanding from yourselves what is reasonable and doing it, you will become dear to God and obtain healing; otherwise you will be tormented in your bodies in the present age and punished in your souls in the age to come.

Instructed and healed by Peter in this way within a few days, they were baptized. Then, because of his further wonders, all the rest of the people sat in the middle of the marketplaces in sackcloth and ashes, repenting of the sins they had committed before. When the people in Sidon heard this, they did the same, and sent suppliants to Peter, since they could not come to him themselves because of their diseases. Peter stayed not many days in Tyre; he instructed all its inhabitants, freed them from all kinds of sufferings, established a church, appointed for them as bishop one of the presbyters who accompanied him, and set out for Sidon. When Simon learned that Peter was coming, he at once ran away to Berytus with Appion and his companions.

As Peter entered Sidon, they brought many on beds and laid them before him. He said to them: "Do not think that I can do anything to heal you; I am a mortal man, myself liable to fall into many sufferings. But I do not grudge showing you the way by which you will be able to be saved, since I myself learned from the Prophet of truth the decrees that God fixed before the foundation of the world: I mean for what evil deeds he appointed that human beings should be harmed by the leader of wickedness, and likewise for what good deeds he decreed that those who first believe in him as their healer should be saved in their bodies, and then have their souls restored to incorruption.

"Knowing, then, these good and evil deeds, I set them before you in advance as two ways, showing by which people walk and perish, and by which they travel and are saved, guided by God. The way of those who perish is broad and very smooth, destroying them without toil; the way of those who are saved is narrow and rough, but at the end it saves those who have gone through it with toil. Over these two ways preside unbelief and faith. Those who have preferred pleasures travel by unbelief, and because of these pleasures they have not even taken care to seek what is to their advantage. They do not know, however, that God's purposes are not like human ones. First, he knows the thoughts of all, and each is called to account not only for attempting but also for intending. Those who attempt to think good things and fail are far less impious than those who do not attempt good things at all. For God himself decided that those who fall away while knowing what is good should be punished moderately, in proportion to human failings, and saved. But those who have neglected even to learn what is better from the start, even if they do countless other good deeds, if they are not in the religion that he himself has appointed, will incur the charge of negligence and will be extinguished by the greatest and complete punishment.

"The religion he has appointed is this: to worship him alone, to believe the Prophet of truth alone, to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, and so, by the most pure dipping, to be born again to God through the saving water; not to partake of the table of demons, I mean things sacrificed to idols, carcasses, things strangled, things caught by wild beasts, and blood; not to live impurely; to wash after intercourse with a woman; and the women themselves also to keep the separation of menstruation; and for all to be self-controlled, to do good, not to do wrong, and to look for eternal life from God who can do all things, asking with prayers and constant petitions to receive it." Peter gave such exhortations in Sidon too, and within a few days many there repented, believed, and were healed. He established a church, appointed one of the presbyters who accompanied him as their bishop, and left Sidon.

As soon as he set foot in Berytus, there was an earthquake. The crowds came to Peter saying, "Help us! We are afraid that we may all be utterly destroyed." Then Simon, emboldened, together with Appion, Anubion, Athenodorus, and his other companions, cried out publicly to the crowds against Peter: "Flee this man, men! He is a magician, believe me. He caused the earthquake for you himself, and he stirred up the diseases himself, to terrify you as if he were God." Simon's party told other such lies about Peter, as though he had power beyond human strength. When the crowds gave him silence, Peter smiled a little and said with startling boldness: "Men, I admit that, if God wills, I am able to do what these men say; and besides this I am ready, if you do not obey me in what I say, to overturn your whole city from its foundations."

The crowds were afraid and promised to do readily whatever he commanded them. "Then let none of you," Peter said, "either converse with these sorcerers or mix with them." As soon as the crowds heard this short command, they took clubs and chased them until they had driven them entirely out of the city. Their sick and demon-possessed came in and threw themselves at Peter's feet. Seeing this, and wishing to relieve their terror, he said to them:

"If I could cause earthquakes and do whatever I wished, I would not, I tell you, destroy Simon with his companions (for I was not sent for the ruin of human beings); rather I would make him my friend, so that he might not slander my true preaching and hinder many from salvation. But, believe me, he is the magician, he is the slanderer, he is the servant of wickedness against those who do not know the truth. That is why he can bring diseases on sinners, having the sinners themselves as fellow workers of the power against them. But I am a servant of God who made all things, a disciple of his right-hand Prophet. So, being his apostle, I speak the truth. Serving the good one, I also drive away diseases; for I was sent second, since disease goes before and healing follows. Through that evil-working magician you fell sick because you disbelieved God; through me, if you believe him, you will be healed. For in this way, having experienced his power and turned to doing good, you may also have your souls saved.

When he said this, they all lay on their knees before his feet. He raised his hands to heaven, prayed to God, and healed them all by prayer alone. He stayed not a few days with the people of Berytus, accustomed many to the worship of the one God and baptized them, appointed one of the presbyters who accompanied him as their bishop, and left for Byblus. When he arrived there and learned that Simon had not stayed with them even one day but had set off at once for Tripolis, he stayed with them a few days, healed not a few, and trained them in the Scriptures; then he went to Tripolis on Simon's track, having chosen to pursue him rather than to avoid him.